Look first at domain experience, not the size of the portfolio. Ask for alpine js vs livewire a couple of engagements that sit close to your technology stack, best vue js development company and then ask specifically which engineers actually built it. A serious vendor will put you on a call with the engineers. Answers that name nobody at this stage usually mean the demo work came from somewhere else.

The paperwork deserves more scrutiny than the proposal. Three sections matter more than the rest: assignment of intellectual property, non-disclosure, and exit terms and handover. All the work product has to transfer to you as it is paid for, together with source code, designs and infrastructure as code. Watch for advantages of laravel vs wordpress any clause that leaves framework code with the vendor, as that is often the dependency that makes switching painful.

Ask how they estimate. A credible estimate arrives with the assumptions behind it, a task-level breakdown and an explicit range. A fixed-price contract is only reasonable when the specification is complete; when the scope is still moving the supplier pads the number and you fund the buffer regardless. A time-and-materials model moves the risk back to the client, so it needs a cap, regular demos and transparent reporting.

The delivery process matters as much as headcount. Ask how a new requirement enters the plan, who signs off on a feature and how testing is organised. A mature dedicated team vs freelancer can demonstrate a working build every one or two weeks. Clear, written acceptance criteria remain the only reliable protection against the it-was-never-in-scope conversation.

Finally, plan for the handover at the start rather than at the end. Ask that the source repository stays in your organisation from the first commit, and that a readme and architecture notes are kept current as the code changes. A provider confident in its own work accepts it without argument; hesitation here tells you quite a lot.